Say What?

January 26, 2004
Haddix's (the Shadow Children series) middling story introduces a trio of siblings whose parents suddenly begin to respond to their misbehavior with irrelevant platitudes and other non sequiturs instead of reprimands. To get to the bottom of this baffling behavior, the offspring hatch a plan to be naughty on purpose so as to "gather evidence." Their parents' reactions continue to confound them: when Reed leaves grimy handprints on the wall (normally "a big no-no in the Robinson household"), for instance, his father calmly instructs him to eat his vegetables. Readers may find the explanation for the goings-on rather anticlimactic: the parents are following the advice of a magazine article proposing that "children secretly crave rules and order" and will begin paying attention to their parents when the grown-ups utter the wrong thing at the wrong time rather than the oft-repeated rebukes that children expect to hear. When the kids discover the truth, they declare war, turning the parents' own weapon against them. The turnabout generates some mildly amusing dialogue as the children bombard the parents with typical kid patter (e.g., "But Connor's parents let him"; "Sukie started it"), also out of context, but extraneous conversation and description bog down the pace of what is essentially a one-joke tale. Ages 6-10.

February 15, 2004
Gr 2-4-Siblings Sukie, Reed, and Brian (ages six, seven, and nine) are horrified and a little frightened when their parents respond inappropriately to their misbehavior. Mom and Dad's robotic admonitions are completely unrelated to the misdeeds: Dad tells Sukie not to pick her nose when she drops glitter on the carpet, Mom tells Brian to shut the door when he spills orange juice in the kitchen. Discovering the reason for this weirdness (the adults are following the advice in a magazine article about how to encourage kids to listen to their parents), the siblings get mad and declare war. This breezy sitcom of a story is an easy read with lightly developed characters, funny situations, and brisk pacing. The large font and energetic black-and-white illustrations will be inviting to readers transitioning to chapter books.-Susan Patron, Los Angeles Public Library

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2004
Gr 2-4-Siblings Sukie, Reed, and Brian (ages six, seven, and nine) are horrified and a little frightened when their parents respond inappropriately to their misbehavior. Mom and Dad's robotic admonitions are completely unrelated to the misdeeds: Dad tells Sukie not to pick her nose when she drops glitter on the carpet, Mom tells Brian to shut the door when he spills orange juice in the kitchen. Discovering the reason for this weirdness (the adults are following the advice in a magazine article about how to encourage kids to listen to their parents), the siblings get mad and declare war. This breezy sitcom of a story is an easy read with lightly developed characters, funny situations, and brisk pacing. The large font and energetic black-and-white illustrations will be inviting to readers transitioning to chapter books.-Susan Patron, Los Angeles Public Library

Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2004
Gr. 2-4. Six-year-old Sukie is worried about her parents. They are saying typical parent things, but at the wrong times. When Sukie is caught scooping peas with her fingers at the dinner table, she expected to hear, "Don't eat with your fingers!" Instead her mom says, "You'll put an eye out with that thing!" Sukie's older brothers don't notice the weird comments; they stopped listening to their parents long ago. That's precisely what Sukie's folks are trying to change by implementing a behavior plan they read about in " New Ways of Parenting." After the kids discover the plan, they decide to match their parents' nonsense talk with some of their own. It all makes for some very funny exchanges before everyone calls it quits and the kids draft a peace treaty. Lighthearted and humorous, this easy chapter book is made all the more appealing by Bernardin's comical black-and-white illustrations.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)